GuestFor years, all of us in digital media bemoaned the fact that you couldn’t raise money from VCs for the endeavor. Now, all of a sudden, there is a kindling of interest in media companies among VCs—far too little yet to be called a frenzy or a bubble, but far more than we have seen in years.

Russia’s vibrant mobile advertising scene has seen two major moves in the last few weeks: the launch of ad network AdCamp by Pult Group and IMHO Vi, and the announcement of a $3 million investment in mobile real-time bidding platform AdMoment by two venture funds.

GuestWhat many eCommerce startups, private equity groups and venture capitalists don’t realize is that once the retailer surpasses a certain number of daily orders, their third-party logistics (3PL) provider often can’t keep pace with sales.

Motif, the company that “pioneered ideas-based stock investing” announced that it has raised $25 million in its third round of financing from Goldman Sachs, as well as existing investors Foundation Capital, Ignition Partners, and Norwest Venture Partners.

GuestWhat we’re seeing today is not a swingback to the enterprise with the add-on of consumer models. What we’re seeing today is a swingback to more diversified revenue models and a refreshing change to the traditional go-to-market approaches … a head fake if I ever saw one.

More is better for cloud executives. The industry is feeling good about cloud investing in the next year, particularly because their technology helps entrepreneurs create many more companies, faster than ever before.

After spending the first ten years of her working life in the fashion industry, Landa moved from fashion to technology. She’s become one of the most influential connectors in Silicon Valley, and has helped, invested in, or worked with over a thousand startups.

In Silicon Valley, people fail. And they fail often. But one of the elements of Silicon Valley that makes it such a petri dish for startups is its tolerance for failure. In Korea, however, failure is still a taboo.

In the first quarter of 2012, investor confidence rose to the highest point it’s been in more than a year. The latest Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index — which measures how much statup investing confidence VCs have — shows a significant jump in confidence over the fourth quarter of 2011.

As I reported early last week, Andreessen Horowitz declined the chance to invest in Instagram’s first institutional round after placing a seed-round bet on the company. After we covered that story, the New York Times and many other outlets picked up on it.

Ashton Kutcher is a well-known celebrity investor in Silicon Valley, but many see him as just a marketing ploy, an attention-grabbing name. However, Kutcher could be more than the dimples that move product off the shelves.

Trust is so basic to business that it is rarely discussed in an analytical and accessible way. The book “The Speed of Trust” offers critical advice for entrepreneurs on how to actively manage trust in order to accelerate growth and reduce costs, while avoiding missteps. The more trust within a company, the faster it can move with lower costs. Think of the adverse impact 9/11 had on the time and cost of air travel — longer lines and more security — because of the damage it did to trust.

Hong Kong-based 8 Securities, an investment service for the average Joe, announced the launch of its first product Monday. The company’s inaugural product is a web app where investors can buy and sell stock, research investment strategies, and connect with other investors via Facebook and Twitter.

The professional venture capital community is more diverse than ever, but employment is still largely dominated by white men, according to the results of a joint census conducted by the National Venture Capital Association and Dow Jones VentureSource, which was released today.

A wave of anti-science sentiment in the U.S. government — through the lens of ignoring global warming and a reliance on fossil fuels — could hamper innovation in the clean technology space, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr (pictured right) said.